NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 16, 18 June 1874, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Rakaia Bridge.— Last evening in the Provincial Council Mr Jebson moved for a Select Committee, with power to call for persons and papers, to enquire into the state of the Rakaia bridge. Considerable discussion ensued, and ultimately the motion was negatived on the voices. Central Railway Station. —The motion by Mr T. S. Taucred for a sum of £30,000 to bo placed on the estimates for the construction of a central railway station in the city of Christchurch, for the purposes of passenger traffic, came before the Provincial Council la«t night, and was, after discussion, withdrawn. A.O.F,—The annual performance by mf-m----bors of the above Order on behalf of their Benevolent Fund will take place this evening, at the Theatre Royal, when the nautical drama of “ The Lost Ship” and the amusing comedy “ The Spectre Bridegroom will be produced.” New and appropriate scenery has been painted by several of the brethren, and the whole airangements are such as should ensure a successful production of the pieces. Mysterious Disappearance. The “ Timaru Herald ” reports : —On Tuesday evening last, John Treanor, a farmer living at Kakaku, on returning with his waggon and team from Timaru, stayed at Mr Glasson’s Arowhenua Hotel for a few minutes, and while there his horses started on. Upon going into the riverbed one of the horses fell down. With the assistance of Messrs Frew and Orton the horses w'ere loosed and the one that was down extricated, when it was found that he was seriously ripped. Treanor started on to Temuka with the cripple, and asked Frew to take the other horses aud put them in his paddock. The night being very dark Frew could not find the horses, aud returned to Temuka to inform Treanor that they were not to be found. On his arrival the horse Treanor started with was found following Quinn’s waggon, but nothing could be seen or heard of Treanor, and, strange to say, nothing has been heard of him up to the present time, although his partner Godsel, together with some of his men and the police, have been searching in every direction. Gas Explosion in Dunedin. The “Guardian” of the Kith, gives the following account of a gas explosion in that city : “A gas explosion, attended with rather serious consequences, took place yesterday in the house of Mr Edmond, Maitlandstreet. About half-past 1) o’clock an escape of gas was thought to have taken place in tire parlour, in which room it had been turned off on the previous evening by Mrs Edmond. Mr Edmond, having turned the gas off at the meter, lit a match, and applied it to the whole length of the pipe which extended from the meter to the burner in the middle of the room, but did not succeed in detecting any escape. He then applied a light to the burner, and when the flame was about half an inch in height, a loud explosion took place. The result was that the south and front walls of the room were blown out, and left standing at an angle of about 70 degrees. The roof was lifted off, aud fell on the floor with a loud crash. The door leading to the passage was also blown off, and other injuries of a lesser nature were done to other parts of the house, The furniture and pictures in the room at the time were also much damaged. Mr Edmond unfortunately did not escape without injury, as he had his face and hands somewhat burned. Dr Alexander was called in, and did what was necessary under the circumstances. Mr Edmond was insured in the Northern Insurance Company for the sum of £BOO, which will no doubt cover his losses. The Fire Brigade was promptly on the spot, but their services were not needed, as but little burning had taken place.”

Fees to the Racecourse. —The Bill to enable the Jockey Club to charge Is per head to foot passengers for admission to the Racecourse passed its second reading last evening, and also went through committee. The third reading is fixed for this evening. Good Templarism. —At the weekly session of the St Andrew’s Lodge, held on Tuesday evening, two new members were initiated and others proposed. At the last session of the West Coast Pioneer Lodge, held at Greymouth, thirteen new members were initiated and many others proposed. The order is making rapid progress in Greymouth. On the recommendation of the General Deputy Grand Worthy Chief Templar, Special Deputies’ Commissions, under the hand of the G.W.G.T. and Seal of the Provisional Grand Lodge, have been issued to the Rev J. W. Warboys and Mr S. J. Gammon, of the “ Perseverance Lodge,” Oxford, and Mr J. A. Efford of the Star of St Alban’s Lodge. Society in the Colonies. —We take the following from the “ Montrose Standard,” and think it must bo received “ cum grano” : —Mr Tinue, an Oxford graduate, who has settled down to flaxspinuing in New Zealand, has'just published a book in which a good story is told illustrative of life in the colony. One day Mr Tinne was tapped on the shoulder by an old schoolfellow who had been with the same tutor at Eton, and was then a livery-stable keeper and cab-driver in Napier. Nevertheless, he was in “society,’; and so fell out the following:—“ Col. Russell, the Minister of Instruction, hired the hansom for a ball in the neighborhood, and on reaching the door of the house, gave N directions to return for him at one a.m. N touched his hat and drove off, but had not gone faxdown the carriage road before he stopped, took the horse out and tethered him to a tree, and. slipping off his mackintosh, came back to the house in full evening dress, having received an invitation also himself. The evening wore on and morning arrived. About three o’clock some one walked up to Colonel Russell, who he saw leaning against the wall and looking rather annoyed, and remarked to him, ‘ Why, Russell,! thought you were an early bird. What are you doing at the ball still?’ ‘Well,’ said the Colonel, 1 1 had intended to go home about two hours ago, but there’s that confounded cabby of mine engaged for three more dances, and I can’t get away till he’s done.’ ” It is evident that one must go the antipodes—not to the Republic —if he would be successful in the search of Liherte, Egalite, Fraternite. Sub-Marine Telegraph. —The “Southern Cross ” remarks : -The progress of scientific discovery as applied to what is now one of the most useful arts —electric telegraphy—is so rapid that what was deemed scarcely attainable a year or two ago is now an accomplished fact. Hitherto the bulky and cumbrous character of the telegraphic cables have greatly increased their cost, and to no small extent delayed their progress ; while at present the high charges which require to be made for messages in consequence of the costliness of the cables have largely restricted the use of the submarine lines Various discoveries or inventions have been made in ocean telegraphy of late years, and practical men, scientifically acquainted with the conditions of the material required for this great modern art, have been engaged in experimenting in the direction of reducing the weight, and, by consequence, lessening the cost and increasing the use of telegraphic communication between distant parts of the world. Some months ago we noticed an invention by a Mr Houghton, by whom a large reduction in the size and cost of submarine cables had been effected by the use of a small sized wire cable. Since then several light cables have been brought before the public, the latest as we learn from Melbourne being the invention of one Captain Rowett, This is also said to be the best. At present the mode of constructing cables and the material of which they are composed is preserved a secret from the public, but it is affirmed that not only will the cable act admirably, but willalso be far more easily handled, and less liable to breakage than the old cables, while in point of cost, that will be so reduced as that messages will, it is asserted, be transmitted at half the present charges. A cable constructed on Captain Rowett’s method is about to be laid between Lisbon and the Azores, and its character and capacity will thus speedily be tested. It is stated that some of the largest English capitalists are taking the matter in hand, so convinced are they of the excellence of the invention. It is to be hoped that no decision has been arrived at respecting the cable to be laid between New Zealand and New South Wales and Singapore and Queensland, as if such an invention as that of Captain Rowett’s proves to be what he claims for it, it will not only greatly lessen these lines to the colonies directly interested, but will proportionately cheapen the charge for messages and greatly increase the use of the cable. We trust Mr M’Lean—who lately went to Australia to complete, as we understand, arrangements connected with this cable —will have been able to take advantage of the discovery. The one point on the Continent to which the minds of Englishmen are constantly directed is the Black Sea. Now that France has been humiliated by Germany and hemmed in by smaller kingdoms, now that there is no longer a danger of French ambition, the English are anxious about Russia. It will be remembered that, during the French and German war, Russia compelled England to break the treaty which had been signed after Sebastopol. England had either to break this treaty or fight, and fight Germany as well as Russia, with France, her natural ally in all Eastern queslious, prostrate, helpless, gasping for life. The treaty was broken, and, as our correspondent shows, “it was the lifting of the floodgates;” and he adds, “ it is idle now to try to sweep back the deluge.” The natural result, sooner or later, must be the dismemberment of Turkey. Austria is to have a slice, and in return for the eastern coast of the Adriatic as far as the Greek frontier she will give Italy the Italian Tyrol and perhaps even Trieste. In Constantinople everything is ripe for Russian aggression, and the only party that would oppose the Russian advance would be the fanatical Mussulmans, While no time is intimated for this movement, our correspondent shows that there is no time better than the present for a favorable execution of the Russian plans. Messrs Blackwood and Sous are preparing for publication a “ Narrative of the Ashautee War,” prepared from the official documents of the compaign, with permission of Sir Garnet Wolscley, by his assistant military secretary, Captain Brackcnbury, ii.A,

The general grief with which the news of Senator Sumner’s death has been received is heightened by the fact now universally acknowledged that the sufferings which have at length put an end to his life originated in the personal ill-usage ho received from a political opponent during the period of violent excitement and acrimonious controversy preceding the outbreak of the rebellion of the Southern Stales of the American Union. The Jgreat Abolitionist made on the on the 20th May, 185 G, one of those speeches which have become landmarks in the history of emancipation. It contained bitter personal allusions to Senator Butler and others, in a style for which the state of public affairs afforded a measure of excuse. What followed is now regretfully recalled by a New York journal. Mr Sumner was, a day or two after he made this speech, sitting writing at his desk after the session of the Senate was over, when Preston S. Brooks, member of Congress for South Carolina, entered, and, advancing to Mr Sumner, upbraided him with having libelled that State and slandered Senator Butler, at the same time striking him several blows on the head with a guttapercha cane, one inch in diameter. Mr Sumner fell on the floor bruised, bleeding, and perfectly unconscious. He was never in full bodily health after this savage attack, which must ever be regarded as one of the most brutal deeds on the part of an educated man of which history affords any example. Archaeologists, says the ““Levant Herald,” have of late years turned their attention largely to the recovery of the vast remains of antiquity which are known to abound all over Turkey Cyprus, Ephesus, Nineveh, the Troad, and other classical sites, have been probed with pick and spade, and the search has generally been productive of discoveries valuable alike to the speculator and to the student. Hitherto the search has been directed rather to objects of early antiquity than to those relics of the middle ages of which Crete and Rhodes are the principal repositories, but which are found scattered in the shape of old fortresses and castles along the shores of the Mediterranean. Founding expectation upon a popular tradition, a company is now, it appears, soliciting from the Turkish Government a firman for dredging the port of Rhodes for the bronze guns and culverins which are said to have been committed to the waters in the times of the heroic struggle between the Knights of St. John and the mighty Solyman. The petitioners offer to give the Government one-third of all that they may recover. Speculation rather than archaeology is supposed to be the main incentive in the proposed enterprise, the undertaking of which can, however, do no harm, and may lead to useful and interesting results —perhaps to the recovery of the Colossus of Rhodes. It might be as well for our own Government to keep an eye on these dredging operations, for, besides the Colossus, there were at Rhodes 3000 other statues, 100 of which were colossal, and which no doubt have at some time or another been pitched into the water. These statues, if recovered, would be admirable substitutes for our London statues ; the Colossus itself might stand in Leicester-square under charge of the Metropolitan Board of Works, and the others could be ranged all round Trafalgarsquare, where they would produce a pleasing effect. We take the following from the “ Thames Advertiser” :—“We understand that the gold found lately at the Hape Creek, and which caused so much speculation, has been claimed by Mr William Buckland, and if what we hear is true, we think that a pretty strong case of ownership can be made out. The circumstapces are very remarkable. Some years ago a madman broke into the safe of the Una battery, then the property of Messrs Buckland and Gibbons, and took away a quantity of amalgam, which he retorted on a shovel, and then broke up the gold, and sawed it into little bits, under the confident belief that it would bring forth ‘ some fifty and some a hundred fold.’ The madman’s theory of how gold could be produced proved as baseless as that of several savans who have attempted to instruct the world upon the same subject. The arguments to prove the identity of the gold are, that the stuff found at the Hape Creek had been coarsely retorted, as if on a shovel, and that in some cases it was imbedded in the ground in a way that looked as if it had lain for some time. On the other hand, we have been informed that the amalgam taken by the lunatic from the Una battery could not possibly have produced so large a quantity of gold as that found. Whether details can be established sufficient to show that the gold lately found was stolen from the Una battery we cannot at present say ; but we greatly desire to see it made clear how the gold came where it was found, and also to see it, or rather the worth of it, restored to its proper owners. The loss of the gold has likewise been accounted for by some from the fact that early in January last a parcel belonging to one of the companies, which had beer lodged in what was thought safe custody for the holidays, was found to be missing, when it was next looked for, and has not since been recovered. The quantity of this last parcel is also said to have corresponded pretty accurately with that recently recovered, which makes the circumstance the more mysterious.”